State Roundup, October 17, 2013

GUN LAW TRIAL SET: A trial date is set for early next year in a challenge by gun owners, stores and firearms advocacy groups who seek to overturn new Maryland gun laws that went into effect this month, reports Andrea Noble for the Washington Times. A four-day trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 10 after the plaintiffs and the state agreed to an expedited schedule, according to recent filings in federal court on one of the cases.

STRUCTURAL DEFICITS LOOMING: Like a chronic skin rash that keeps coming back, the persistent structural deficits that legislators thought they had almost cured earlier this year are looming again for fiscal 2015, reports Len Lazarick in MarylandReporter.com. Chief policy analyst Warren Deschenaux told the Spending Affordability Committee Wednesday that there now appears to be a $400 million potential gap in next year’s budget.

JOBLESS INSURANCE TAX CUTS: The unemployment insurance tax rates paid by most Maryland businesses will be cut by up to 70% in January, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced Wednesday. John Wagner reports in the Post that O’Malley said at an event held with business leaders at the Maryland Chamber of Commerce that the adoption of the lowest of five possible brackets under Maryland’s tax system was made possible by a recovering state economy.
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